Sir Darren Carter's page

Alright. Thunderbeard here, checking in with a tale-telling fun-loving five-foot pig-riding cavalier who can fight mounted indoors (though he always prefers not fighting), hand out awesome combat and social buffs, create (and drink) unlimited quantities of alcohol at will, and spontaneously build things with music.

EDIT: Oh missed the feat tax fixes, made changes to the character. Darren can now grant all allies up to +5 to hit.

Congrats on the wedding, of course!

Meanwhile, I think everyone still has their characters for this one—just let us know when you feel well enough to start again.

It's an amusing concept (I think he's mostly a pastiche of Doran Martell and Lord Vetinari), but the character would work much better in Ascending Majesty, while Sir Darren Carter would still be more fun in Reviving the Empire (and, I suspect, the two characters would have nothing in common).

I'm still here! I really liked the theme of the original game, as well as the diplomacy/spycraft-centric side game—but that one I still think will have a different tone.

My character for Leviathan's side game started out roughly similar, but has now evolved into a venerable-aged “armchair general” inquisitor with a strength of 3, a magical hook hand, and an animated chair...

I could... but I'd also like to use the guy in this campaign if it ever starts up, so I'm not sure.

I don't know; I've got a feeling that might make it less likely for the GM to come back once he's feeling better, etc.

I'm following a few threads; I've already got plenty of games, but several of them haven't updated in weeks. At this point I'm mostly checking what GMs/players seem like I'd enjoy playing with them, if I'm going to join one or two more games.

Maybe he's got a cast on his arm that keeps him from typing for a few more weeks, I wouldn't worry about it.

No, it would just be annoying the GM less when he recovers from his injury and sees 100 posts asking where he's been.

Maybe wait more than a few days in between every time that gets asked?

War Scythe was a practical peasant's weapon, like a kunai or a pitchfork. If you want a weapon that says "blending in with the smallfolk," it's appropriate, but it might be a bit odd for someone with mostly military/nobility history.

That seems... way, way too good to be legal. Also, as I mentioned, the description of scythe suggests that it doesn't look like a normal harvesting scythe; but I guess you can get creative with it.

EDIT: No, it doesn't say you can treat it as a natural 20—just for opposed attack rolls. It's still not an auto-threat by any reading of the power; it's more of a variant True Strike.

Yeah, I'm just assuming he'll be back when he feels up for running a game again, and there's no amount of prodding that'll change that, other than... y'know, being annoying.

Falcata has the best average damage of any weapon at high levels because of the way its crit uses; but I'd just go with what makes stylistic sense, honestly.

The Military Scythe is essentially a glaive with a curved blade and halberd; specifically, you're using an odd, curved polearm.

As I mentioned, though, I had a sore throat and spent all day in bed too bummed out to do any work, so I got...over-invested in the character.

Also, I've wanted to play an Arcane/Fey Crossblooded Rager for a while now, but decided it would be more fun in a high level game. (The Oracle and mythic stuff was just tacked on to give him a cool tiger buddy). Most of my feat choices were obvious, I didn't have many skills, pulled spell lists from a guide except for a few special favorite. I'll admit that the backstory just sort of wrote itself.

EDIT: Wait, really? I thought my concept (teamwork feats with a non-cavalier) was decently unique.

Dang! Yeah, hope everyone was okay. We'll be here when he gets back, if he still has an interest in running this game.

Oh no! Yeah, I hope nothing bad happened.

Yeah plus all the special rules for that are on the SRD and honestly I liked Blood Bowl more, from what I've read of the Hockey system.

Oh, right, forgot they touched on a lot of that with the Great Lakes Campaign Setting a few years back. Ah well, I probably won't actually read/buy the splatbook for Canada until they come out with an AP set there.

I'm in Canada if that helps explain away things at all.

No, now I'm more confused—there are things in Canada? And people? Since when?

Yeah, at this point we're just chatting.

What possible calendar does your college run on? We're on the quarter system, and our winter finals were two weeks ago, but it's a bit early for the end of a spring semester.

Err—leadership usually doesn't refer to a large group of people who you literally bring everywhere with you, unless you're also paying and employing them (like as a ship's captain). I'd say in this case, it probably refers to the normal squadron of men you train and would command in wartime, but they're still employed by the Taldor army and not by you personally; they'll just have your back and advocate for your promotion, and in a proper war you get to command them. While you travel, maybe one of your lieutenants takes charge of the group.

Lyre of Building is limited to things that can be built instead of crafted, and it needs to be things that can be built by relatively unskilled laborers. But most buildings require a few skilled individuals overseeing a lot of tradesmen who have learned on the job, so I've always figured what you can build with a lyre of building is limited by what you can thoroughly design with Knowledge (engineering) and Profession (architect) (or at least what you could oversee the building of, if you had the right plans)

I assume you mean Mycroft from the BBC show... the book character was more of a 22 Int/6 Str/4 Cha type.

Nothing from the GM—has anyone PMed him at this point? It might be worthwhile.

Huh... and I think I'm the only person without a rank in the Taldan military. Interesting.

Yeah... Gunslinger doesn't do much unless you take a 5-level dip for the Gun Training, but otherwise gunsmithing and proficiency can be handled by omnipresent archetypes. (And, as far as I can tell, goblin barbarians make the best gunslingers)

I'm not really sure what your character does; I just assumed he was here for the roleplaying.

There's no rule against lurking. You could always ask the GM about appearing as an NPC at some point.

The established rule is that you can't add the same ability score to any check twice (and it's in RAW: you add "intelligence bonus as well as wisdom bonus" not "in addition to whatever bonus you already have")

You could always just ditch the Grand Marshal level for something else if you wanted—the Legal Judgment won't stack well with your other swift-activated abilities, or you could just let a single ability be redundant.

@Lexarius: Depending on what the maneuvers require, you can always use Quick Draw and a Quickdraw shield to equip a shield after every attack. You also seem to be more of a maneuver specialist than anything else, so I'd go with whatever helps that.

Also, a Lyre of Building can be played once a week. Two Lyres means you can play TWICE a week.

You don't need a fort save after 30 minutes. But you can only hustle for up to an hour a day without making checks to avoid becoming fatigued, and I'd say constantly strumming an instrument is on the same scale (have you ever tried to play guitar for two hours straight? It's not that bad, but 12 hours would be much tougher).

To make full use of your lyre of building, you want to be able to strum it for 24-48 hours at a time, and that requires some superhuman feats of endurance.

Meanwhile, the suggested (but optional) ruling in Kingmaker says that a Lyre of Building can produce up to 4 BP of building-creation per month. Assuming it's played by someone competent but not focused on performance, this corresponds to roughly 4,000 gp of construction per hour or so of strumming, including the music necessary to quarry the stone or cut the lumber or whatnot.

Well, you could potentially have one of your followers be a minstrel... if they can take 10 on the check. If not (due to the fact that it gets stressful after 30 minutes), we're talking a level 8-10 bard/expert, and those people are a lot rarer and probably require about 500-1000 gp for their services... not to mention knowing nothing about building construction, so you're unlikely to get more than badly fitted stone or mud brick walls.

Now, a minstrel with a bunch of engineering knowledge and a +18 fortitude save that lets him keep constantly strumming for much, much longer before he passes out...

(Although an undead bard could keep playing forever)

Ah, but... I have a second Lyre, and the perform skill to play it until I pass out.

Oh! Thanks. I hadn't realized I had a reputation as a player, which is cool since I don't have the best track record running a game.

I guess we can build you a house at some point?

That's because Wheeling Charge is a local feat—technically only available to crusaders of Lastwall. It's nice, but not a game-changer, and I'd probably only take it if we wind up doing a lot of group charging or there's a story reason.

Speaking of which, I'm curious what the GM's opinion is on Story feats—at this level we've got enough options to satisfy all the essential combat roles, and it could be a cool way to define characters as we go.

Stronghold provides cool flavor for anyone with Leadership, as does Dynasty Founder. Blessed and Nemesis are awesome for anyone, but will depend on whether we meet Outsiders or a villain appears as a campaign nemesis. Eldritch Researcher is really cool for a creative caster.

Meanwhile, Darren might be interested in Magnum Opus or the neat Monument Builder feat, though both are primarily flavor related.

@Lexarius: I assumed the 5th player might be associated with the DM in some way that kept them busy during the same time period. I think Velius is simply waiting for the game to start, and has nothing else to say.

Yeah, it's... alright. I think we can worry about it once we start leveling, though.

Meanwhile, my character has spent his last few levels studying nonviolent conflict resolution, so... we'll see how all that turns out.

EDIT: Just realized I forgot to take the campaign's bonus 1st level feat. My options are Quick Draw, which lets me deal more damage without decreasing AC (thanks to quickdraw shields), or Horn of the Criosphinx, which allows a LOT more damage but requires unshielded charges. I'd say probably the first is more useful, since the party already has some damage capabilities and I'm on the "insufficiently armored" end, but if we need more damage-striking capabilities I could take the other instead.

Err... I'd generally avoid too much reliance on Overrun, at least until you get the Trample feat. It's great to get you through enemies to the one you want to hit, but...

When you attempt to overrun a target, it can choose to avoid you, allowing you to pass through its square without requiring an attack. If your target does not avoid you, make a combat maneuver check as normal.

The GM specifically said he'd be busy through at least Saturday, and wouldn't be able to start the game until after that.

And I think our multiple cohorts will work much better in PbP than at a table. There are lots of ways to make maps work, and honestly a single google doc can do most of what Roll20 does for people who don't want to learn a confusing new program.

If you're really into shenanigans, an Improved Familiar with the Mauler archetype lets you ride all sorts of crazy things into battle, like a spherical justice robot. (I've actually got a mounted combat monk who's considering that)

If Darren gets a cohort, it'll probably be a halfling squire who rides a regular-sized pig.

The gunslingers wouldn't do much damage, and would be taken out by the first fireball.

Also, if we're not in places where charging is practical, my mount makes an effective physical barrier.

If you don't include cohorts, it's 2-2, melee to ranged. If you do, it's 2-3; but if you also include mounts, it's 4-3.

Heh. I mean, I threaten most tacos, but only from a range of about 5'.

Well, in the extended description of leadership it specifically recommends that followers shouldn't be participating in combat. Followers are generally contacts and agents who will work to help you, but might not literally follow you around (though it's a great way to manage, say, a ship's crew). Keep the captain title if you expect to be and remain a captain of something, Sir if you'd prefer to be a knightly agent over one in an organized position of power.

Quickdraw shield can be stowed for free as long as you're drawing another weapon.

@Opilio: Your challenge, I believe, only gives us that bonus if you're threatening the target. Then again, in another level or two you could get Improved Snap Shot and threaten everyone with your guns.

Oh, right. Lookout is quite good—but only really useful when granted by someone with high initiative. If you trip a lot, the best feat to grant is probably Paired Opportunists.

I've got decent out-of-combat healing (4d6 channel, 6/day), but I'm not a dedicated healer any more than an average paladin. However, I've always thought followers could only be NPC classes, and I'd recommend keeping them out of most combats.

There's some arguments out there that a Silvanshee improved familiar on an arcane spellcaster could lay on hands pretty well, but our best bet will probably be winning fights fast with high defenses and then cleaning up afterwards.

@Lexarius: If you're invested in both tripping and defense, getting Quick Draw and a Quickdraw Shield could let you switch between offensive and defensive styles in the middle of combat. If you're going to be riding your cohort into battle, a Lance can be wielded one-handed or two-handed, and with the right shield you can switch between those modes quickly.

Not sure about the Perception bonus—that's probably a GM question (though I always play Empiricists instead). As for teamwork feats on your musketeer—hmm, yeah, those boost ranged attacks nicely. So Opilio helps with ranged combat, Lexarius helps general melee, and Darren will use switch between cavalry buffs and defensive buffs.

Also, swift actions can be hard to come by—a round you use Greater Tactician in is a round you can't start a Challenge, and you can only grant one of your two feats at a time.

Items other tactical feat-granters may be interested in:

1. Resplendent Coat. Increases tactician range to 60 ft, for an affordable 7k gp (less if we have a crafter).

2. Horsemaster's Saddle. A bit more expensive, lets any creature you ride constantly share combat teamwork feats with you, which can be useful situationally.

3. Ring of Tactical Precision. Increases the benefits of all teamwork feats, and allows feat sharing for fun and profit.

And I'm just messing up all over the place, posting with the wrong alias.

And how exactly are you granting your teamwork feats constantly, without using Tactician? I wonder if that's something I can get once I get Coordinated Charge next level.

I've never actually gotten a chance to use a capstone, hmm. Opilio: your banner bonus doesn't stack with mine (and mine is a bit better because I've been dumping favored class into it), but I guess it never hurts to have a second banner if the party gets split.

@Lexarius: cavaliers can grant teamwork feats as a move action, or a swift action at level 9 (so I take a move action now, but at next level I will join Opilio in granting them swiftly). It's still only one per turn, and Challenge is also a swift action, so having multiple people granting them is pretty cool. Mine focus on boosting either defense or mounted combat, and if yours boost flanking that gives cool synergy.

Secret stealthy dot achieved. Looking forward to it.

Thunderbeard here, with an alias! (Turns out I had a level 9 version of this guy from a finished campaign. He might be helpful in the melee-heavy party that the proposals seem to suggest, and he'd certainly love to help rebuild Taldor). Presenting:

Sir Darren Carter
CG “Paladin” of Cayden Cailean
Cavalier (Beast Rider) 8 / Cleric 3 (Devout Pilgrim) / Fighter 1 (Dragoon)

Role:
-Melee striker and defender, bringing decent back-up healing, social skills, and a ton of passive party buffs
-Like a paladin, but more fun (and as a Cleric of Cayden, can Create Ale at will!)

Perks:
-Grants bonuses to attacks, saves, freedom of movement, telepathy, and at level 13 will allow allies to take a ton of bonus charge actions
-Single-target striker (like any cavalier, can do single hits large enough to punch through any DR)
-With massive saves, reach weapon, stand still, and high-armor pet, can effectively wall off enemies for battlefield control
-A few decent cleric buffs, with excellent out-of-combat healing (channels like a level 8 cleric)
-Can bluff, persuade, magically alter his appearance, and construct buildings with the power of guitar solos
-Must spend an hour every day in merriment or he gets morale bonuses and disappoints his god

* * *
Str 18 (22), Dex 13, Con 16 (18), Int 14, Wis 12 (14), Cha 16
HP 162, AC 27, Fort +18, Ref +8, Will +10 (+12 vs mind-effecting, +16 vs fear) (+1 to all saves if near mount)